welsh



W. WELSH.

AEROPLANE.

J an. 16, 1923.

3 SHEEISSHEE1 2- FILED DEC-11,1920.

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' W. WELSH.

AEROPLANE.

FILED 05cm, 1920. I a suans-susp1al INVENTOR Patented Jan. 16, 1923.

WILLIAM WELSH, OF KINCARDINE, ONTARIO, CANADA.

AEnoPLAnE.

Application filed December 11, 1920. Serial No. 429,938.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM WnLsH, f the town of Kincardine, in the county of Bruce, in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Aeroplanes, of which the following is the specification.

My invention relates to improvements in aeroplanes and the object of the invention is to devise an aeroplane which, while ret aining the advantages of the ordinary or horizontal flight machine will at the same time becapable of direct lift in taking off or in landing. A further object is to provide means for varying the centre of gravity of the machine whereby the inclination of the planes may be varied or wherein the machine may be turned so as to constitute a direct lift machine. A still further object is to provide means whereby the stopping of one engine of the machine will not stop the propellers and thus render a propelling mechanism inoperative through the stopping of one engine.

My invention consists of the parts constructed and arranged all as hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 represents a front view of an aeroplane constructed according to my invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear view.

Fig. 3 is a plan view.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section through the line 44 Fig. 1, and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the line 55 Fig. 1.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different views.

1 is the lower plane and 2 the upper plane suitably mounted on the lower plane by the struts 3 and the cross stays 4. The tips 5 of the upper plane are inclined downwardly, such wingtips being supported by the diagonal struts 6. 7 is an elevator provided at the front of the upper plane and suitably hinged thereto. 8 are the propeller shafts extending longitudinally of the machine, each shaft 8 being provided with the forward and rear propellers 9 and 10 re spectively.

11 are engines suitably mounted on the machine and provided with clutches 12, carrying the sprocket wheels 13 adapted to drive the sprocket wheels 14 on the respective shafts by the chains 15. 16 are sprockcts in the vicinity of the forward ends of the shafts 8 connected by the cross chain 17 for connecting the two shafts together, it

being understood that the shafts are mounted between the planes 1 and 2m any suitable manner such as by hearing brackets 18 on the struts 19 is the nacelle of the machine.

20 are rudders suitably mounted in the vicinity of the ends of the lower plane. 21 is 2. depending bracket secured to the underneath side of the lower plane 1 and having the straight rod 22 pivotally connected thereto. 24 is a cable secured atone end to the free end of the rod 22 and extending over the sheaves or blocks 25 mounted on the upper plane, the other end of the cable being wound on the drum. 26 detachably mounted on one of the shafts 8 by the clutch 27 28 is a ball shaped weightislidably mounted on the rod 23. 29 is a cable connected at one end to the weight 28 and extending up through the sheave 30 and wound upon the drum 31 detachably secured to the other shaft 8 by the clutch 32. 33 are U-shaped brackets extending rearwardly from the upper and lower planes and adapted to enclose the rear propellers 10.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

Preparatory to taking off, the machine will be in the direct lift position and will rest on ground on the brackets 33, the rod 22 being drawn'up by means of the cable 24 and the weight 28 being drawn up by means of the cable 29.

On starting the engines and the clutches 12 being thrown in the propellers will be revolved and will act as helicopters, thus lifting the machine off the ground the dew sired distance. By dropping the rod 22 and allowing the weight 28 to slide down thereon, the centre of gravity of the machine will be altered and the machine will be turned into the substantially horizontal flying position, the propellers now propelling the machine.

If it is desired to climb, in addition to using the elevator 7 the rod 22 can be drawn up a certain extent by means of the cable 24, which will throw the weight 28 rearwardly, thus altering the centre of gravity of the machine and swinging it into the climbing position.

When desiring to land, the rod 22 is in laiid on the brackets 83, which take the pulled up a further extent which will cause the weight to be displaced further in a rearward direction, thus causing the machine to turn into the vertical or direct lift position. Now by slowing down the engines the lift of the propellers will be lessened and the machine will come to the ground, the rod 22 and the weight 28 being drawn up in order to preventthem striking the ,ground when land- It ,is .intended'that the machine shall place of the ordinary landing or chassis carriage.

'It will be seen that by interconnecting the propeller .shafts -8, should one engine stop, the other engine will drive the two shafts and .thus do away with the necessity of having to :shut down the other engine,

acts as a drag on the left hand side of the machine, and thus the machine will turn to-the left.

What I claim as my invention is:

,1. In an aeroplane, =the V combination with the main planes, of a rod pivotally connected nnderneaththe same, weight slidablyn'iounted on the said .rod, means for swinging up the rod andmeans :cfor drawing" ,up vthe weightonathe rod independently ,of the means for swinging up the rod.

2. fIn-an aeroplane,..the combination with the main planes and propellers rotatably mounted in front ,ofand behind such main planes, of a rod pivotally connected at its upper end to the machine, a weight slidably mounted on the said rod, means for drawingthe rod up and means for drawing the Weight upindependently of the rod.

3. In an aeroplane, the combination with the main planes, and propellers .rotatably mounted in front of and behlnd such main planes, of a straight rod having a bent upplanes, vof brackets extending about the rear propellers, means for -.turning the machine into the vertical or direct lift ;positionforilanding or taking off, said machine landing and taklng :oifl on i-sald brackets.

5. In an aeroplane, the combination withthe main planes, of longitudinal propeller shafts rotatably mounted between the said planes, propellers'on the forward and rear ends thereof, independent engines driving the respective ,propeller shafts, sprocket wheels on the shafts, a crosschainextending over said sprocket wheels for connecting the two shaftstogether,a straight rodhavmg a bent upperend pivotally connected below the lower plane, a weight slidablv mounted thereon, drums on the respective propeller shafts, clutches detachably securing the drums to such shafts, a cable connected at one end to the free end of the red, the other end wound upononeof .the drums, a second cable connected at one endzto the weight on the rod and the other end wound around the other drum.

M. VELSH. Witnesses:

A. G..l\IAOIN'1-YRE, HAZEL Dnmmnn. 

